Monday, 10 December 2012

The Daily Mail is now recruiting trainees for its autumn schemes for reporters and subs. The successful applicants will probably be on a post-grad journalism course and have a fair amount of newsroom experience. The deadline for applications is January 11. The courses, which involve several weeks training followed by placements on regional newspapers, begin in September. If you are interested send CVs and six examples of your work to Sue Ryan at sue.ryan@dailymail.co.uk. The subbing scheme has been running for ten years and many of the senior subs on the paper - in both news and sport - are graduates of the course. The reporting course has been running for five years. Its graduates include Matt Sandy, who won young journalist of the year in the British Press Awards last year, and Fay Schlesinger, joint winner of the investigation of the year award at the British Journalism Awards earlier this month. If you are applying for any of these courses you might want to take a look at my advice on how to prepare for an interview. Good luck. More details on Hold the Front Page.

If newspapers die, who will conduct investigative journalism, who will hold public officials accountable?Black and White and Dead All Over, a film about the viability of the newspaper industry, looks like essential viewing for everyone, not just journalists. Great trailer here.

Saturday, 8 December 2012

The Financial Times Deutschland closed yesterday - 12 years after it began. The journalists certainly marked the demise of their paper with style - and with a dark sense of humour. The front page went from pink to black with letters from the titlepiece tumbling to the foot of the page. The headline roughly translates as 'Finally black'. Inside there was a photograph of the staff bowing out (scroll to the foot of the page here).

Thursday, 6 December 2012

There isn’t much to cheer us up on the covers of today's newspapers … except,
perhaps, the front pages themselves. There is certainly a strong and varied range of
covers on the autumn statement.

The pick, and bleakest, of the bunch is The Independent which
will jump off the news-stands. Promoting one of its greatest assets, cartoonist
Dave Brown, to the front is a bold move. The yellow titlepiece is
brave too ... a cross between a Watchmen cover (hat tip to @MrJamesMcMath)
and the front of a Gothic Batman comic.

The Times also uses its cartoonist, the equally excellent Peter
Brookes, on the front. A simple and direct message illustrating the Chancellor missing
his targets. Bold, if not quite as bold as the Independent.

I really like the Daily Telegraph's approach too, combining the
snow picture with Osborne's grim assessment that there is a long, hard road
ahead. The blurbs are wiped away, the titlepiece imposed on the photo and
Benedict Brogan's analysis is promoted to the front.

The Guardian also uses an excellent picture, by the Press Association, of a hysterical Osborne and David Cameron with a smart and pertinent headline.

The Daily Mirror decides Stuart Hall’s arrest is far more important but
uses a variation of the giggling Cameron and Osborne. It’s headlines are, as
you’d expect, more broadsword than The Guardian’s. 'The grin reapers: Six more
years of cuts and they think it’s funny'. Good tabloid stuff.

On the other hand, the FT wins the bizarre front page headline of the day award by a
country mile. 'G-Dawg splashes out tax
cuts like P Diddy with Dom Perignon in his blingiest giveaway'. Really?

The Daily Mail presents a more traditional front … one that makes it clear the paper is struggling to offer even lukewarm support to the Chancellor.

The Daily Express also offers a no-nonsense headline and makes sure, of course, that the weather is still prominent.

The Sun, like the Mirror, decides Stuart Hall means more to its readers. And, on a pretty bleak day, tries to offer a little light relief with
the Australian radio hoaxers.

And finally the Daily Star ignores all that economic stuff and goes
with its exclusive interview with Frankie Dettori on his drugs shame.

In the regions things are a little more uplifting. This wrap from the Eastern Daily Press, celebrating the Light Dragoons' return to Norfolk, is a great example of what regional newspapers do so well. Overall, though, a day of pretty grim content ... but all neatly wrapped up in some first rate pages. Well done the designers.Thanks as always to

Sands Media Services Ltd

Sands Media Services is a training and design consultancy run by Peter and Pam Sands. Peter is consultant trainer on the Daily Mail graduate programme in London, New York and Sydney. He is a former editor of The Northern Echo, non-executive director of Northcliffe Media, director at PA Training and from 2006-2011 was chairman of the judges in the Regional Press Awards. He has redesigned 90 newspapers and magazines and is in demand as a trainer, speaker and editorial consultant. Pam is a former director of the Editorial Centre and Press Association Training. Our partners include Press Association Training, ffresh, the visual communications company run by Mike Brough, Alan Geere, Brian Page and other senior journalists and designers.
You can contact us on: 0044 7977 186408;
petersandssms@gmail.com
Twitter@petersands55

We have redesigned around 90 newspaper and magazine titles. If you need a new look for your newspaper or magazine or a freshening of your style, do not hesitate to contact us.

Publishing

SMS's team of designers, artists and journalists produce pages and supplements for newspapers and magazines. We can look after everything from the articles, photographs, design and proof-reading - delivering professional camera-ready pages on to your system.

Conferences

Peter Sands has organised, run and chaired conferences for many major media groups including Johnston Press, Archant and Northcliffe.

Consultancy

Peter has assisted media groups and newspaper titles in changing their structure, market position and in drawing up their business strategy. He was editorial director of Northcliffe newspapers from 2011 to 2013, helping the group get in shape ready for its sale. Peter has also assisted in change projects at newspapers including the Irish Independent, the Belfast Telegraph, the Inverness Courier, the Irish News, Allied Newspapers (Malta), the Guernsey Press, North Wales Weekly Newspapers, the Irish Examiner, the Evening Echo (Cork), Archant and many others.

Articles

Peter writes regular columns for InPublishing magazine and is a regular contributor to national newspaper sports pages. His specialist subjects include the media, management, training, football, Newcastle United FC, travel, the Languedoc area of France and human interest articles.